ApsaraDB RDS offers the following editions: Basic Edition, High-availability Edition, Cluster Edition, and Enterprise Edition. This topic describes how to view and change the edition of an ApsaraDB RDS instance and describes the scenarios of each edition.

Description of editions

Edition Description Scenario Supported database
RDS Basic Edition
  • Architecture: The database system consists of only a primary RDS instance. Computing is separated from storage.
  • Read-only instance: Read-only instances are not supported.
  • Personal learning
  • Microsites
  • Development and testing environments for small and medium-sized enterprises
  • ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL
  • ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL
  • ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server
High-availability Edition
  • Architecture: The database system consists of a primary RDS instance and a secondary RDS instance. These RDS instances work in high availability mode. Dual-zone disaster recovery is supported. The secondary RDS instance cannot be directly accessed.
  • Read-only instances: Read-only instances are supported only for RDS instances that run MySQL or PostgreSQL.
  • Production databases for large and medium-sized enterprises
  • Databases that are used in industries such as the Internet, IoT, e-commerce, logistics, and gaming
  • ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL
  • ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL
  • ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server
  • ApsaraDB RDS for MariaDB TX
Cluster Edition
  • Architecture: The database system consists of a primary RDS instance and a secondary RDS instance. These RDS instances work in high availability mode. The secondary RDS instance can be directly accessed.
  • Read-only instances: Read-only instances are supported for RDS instances that run SQL Server.
  • Production databases for large and medium-sized enterprises
  • Databases that are used in industries such as Internet-based new retail and automobile manufacturing, and databases that are used for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
  • ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server
Enterprise Edition
  • Architecture: The database system consists of one primary RDS instance and two secondary RDS instances. Disaster recovery in three zones is supported. The secondary RDS instances cannot be directly accessed.
  • Read-only instances: Read-only instances are supported for RDS instances that run MySQL.
  • Core databases in the finance, securities, and insurance industries that require high data security
  • Core production databases for large enterprises
  • ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL

View the edition of an RDS instance

You can log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console, find the RDS instance, and then go to the Basic Information page to view the edition of the RDS instance. 11

Change the edition of an RDS instance

Database engine Edition change description
ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL If your RDS instance runs one of the following database versions and RDS editions, you can upgrade the RDS instance from RDS Basic Edition to RDS High-availability Edition. For more information, see Upgrade an ApsaraDB RDS for MySQL instance from Basic Edition to High-availability Edition.
  • MySQL 5.7 on RDS Basic Edition
  • MySQL 8.0 on RDS Basic Edition
If your RDS instance runs one of the following database versions and RDS editions, you can upgrade the RDS instance from RDS High-availability Edition to RDS Enterprise Edition:
  • MySQL 5.7 on RDS High-availability Edition (with local SSDs)
  • MySQL 8.0 on RDS High-availability Edition (with local SSDs)
ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server If your RDS instance runs one of the following database versions and RDS editions, you can upgrade the RDS instance from RDS Basic Edition to RDS High-availability Edition. For more information, see Upgrade an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance from Basic Edition to High-availability Edition.
  • SQL Server 2016 EE on RDS Basic Edition
  • SQL Server 2012 EE Basic on RDS Basic Edition
  • SQL Server 2016 Web on RDS Basic Edition
  • SQL Server 2012 Web on RDS Basic Edition
If your RDS instance runs SQL Server 2008 R2 with local SSDs, you can upgrade the RDS instance from SQL Server 2008 R2 to SQL Server 2012 or SQL Server 2016. For more information, see 2008 Upgrade an ApsaraDB RDS for SQL Server instance with local SSDs from SQL Server 2008 R2 to SQL Server 2012 or SQL Server 2016.
ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL If your RDS instance runs one of the following database versions and RDS editions, you can upgrade the RDS instance from RDS Basic Edition to RDS High-availability Edition. For more information, see Upgrade an ApsaraDB RDS for PostgreSQL instance from Basic Edition to High-availability Edition.
  • PostgreSQL 14 on RDS Basic Edition
  • PostgreSQL 13 on RDS Basic Edition
  • PostgreSQL 12 on RDS Basic Edition
  • PostgreSQL 11 on RDS Basic edition
  • PostgreSQL 10 on RDS Basic edition
Note You cannot change the edition of an RDS instance that does not meet the requirements in the preceding table. If you want to change the edition of the RDS instance, you must create an RDS instance that runs the specified RDS edition and then migrate the data of the original RDS instance to the new RDS instance. For more information, see the following topics:

Instance types supported by various editions

For more information about the instance types that are supported by various editions, see ApsaraDB RDS instance families.

Features supported by various editions

For more information about the features that are supported by various editions, see Functions and features.

Create an RDS instance